Stuck in a cornered Complexity

Career Advice
1

I am working in a company where I am a software Engineer with one year of experience,
I have pretty good concepts and a good problem-solving mind also enjoy a code attitude,

But the experience is a little scattered in time durations, due to covid,
due to personal reasons and due to some mishaps that happened in my family, I had to come to the Tech-City and go back to my village with no mentor and resources to learn,

so these gaps worked as a trojan inside me to slow down my pace of learning and performings,
But now, my senior or Team lead is not allowing me to play together, or to put my potential,

I know water makes its own way even though Mountains, but I am losing the push I need, same as the water owns to penetrate,
I can’t afford to mourn over it or to cry over it, but this thing is eating me inside out, I need a pace not only for me even for my family whom I am supporting, I have plenty of reasons.

I don’t know where and how to start, job timings, and no mentor or a friend in this field is with me to make me see or stand by in this situation relating and solving it together,

tried to reach people to have a healthy competition with but couldn’t find one, and this phase is going on longer,

I need experts’ advice, on how much connecting and satisfying that even I don’t know. But please don’t give me formal words that I can have from anyone regular person around me.

Can’t afford to leave or switch, financially and for portfolio, as it is a very small market here, on the top, don’t want to run from it.

2

It is hard to understand the extent of your issues.

It sounds like you feel like you aren’t being challenged and allowed to grow and your tech lead isn’t helping.

It is tough sometimes. Sometimes you get into a job like that. Sometimes you work with bad people. It isn’t just where you are - I know people in Silicon Valley who got stuck in crappy jobs with crappy people.

My advise would be:

  1. Keep working hard at your current job.
  2. Work with your tech lead, try to help, try to talk with him. Maybe he still won’t help, but at least you tried. Sometimes these people have it backwards - sometimes they think it is about what you can do for them - it should go both ways. In the mean time, learn every thing you can. Kiss his butt if you have to - this is a stepping stone for you.
  3. Keep learning and building things. If you are underutilized at work, channel that energy into learning new things.

I realize there may not be a lot of opportunities where you are, but someone with a couple years of experience and an impressive portfolio is going to have a lot of opportunities if they are willing to move. You need to speak the language the company is using, but you seem to have a basic command of English and that is very common in tech. (I work for a Spanish branch or a Swiss company - we work in English.) There is also the possibility of remote work, which is getting more common.

But all in all, the best advice is always to keep learning and keep building things.

1 Like
3

I am willing to move out of Pakistan or do a remote job,
not just for me to get out of this. culture, but also to break the chain,

These things are just phase of time if am a person looking for some job to stay only,
but my goals are not only getting worthy of some place valuable, also to be able to deliver these things I have got or I will get in future,

So for that purpose, I have to gather more and more, fly high and high , to let the exposure of mine get delivered to the people coming after me, and under me, or even with me.

But the situation now is a little cage like, I am not able to open my wings and eventually, if it keeps going like this, My fly will not be that high as compared to if they allow me to fly now and no doubt I will fall, but the learning will start now,

I am looking for some persons, community as well as people to have some healthy competition, open to work on projects part time, looking for freelance projects,

looking for scholarships and any way to break out of this phase and get on the rocket ship as soon as possible.
plz if you guys can help me out, I am willing to have any opportunity to keep practicing, working and polishing my skills, without or within the company or lead.

4

I don’t have a shortcut for you. This is going to take time and hard work. Keep learning and building. And (at the risk of offending) keep working on your English - you seem to have a basic English understanding, but the more you improve it, the better your chances will be. And yes, if you can find people with whom you can work and talk, that is great too. I can’t believe that you are the only person in your country in this situation. Or reach out and try to connect globally. Unfortunately FCC may not be the best place to meet people. Where I am, meetup dot com and facebook groups are very good places to find meetups of other coders.

Just put in the time and the work and you’ll get there. It may take longer than you hope, but it will happen.

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5

there are many many people arround having this kind of experience, but they accept it ,
That is why it is the chain I want to break,
facebook Groups are not that much good to help the situation and also the meetup dot com will not have any Pakistani devs there,
What I am llooking for is a person to be with and get motivated , and get inspired also to get pushed too,
In Pakistan, there is no JS community , even the first AWS community conference was held last month,
so people here do not share much do not have or give time in supporting each or working together, senior don’t answer on the level of Jr , they reply with their own level of experience and understanding, the Aura creates great communication gap, don’t allow to let the Jr join in discussion or suggestions on or off projects

6

Well, if that is truly the situation, then you will have to either make something happen locally or look outside your area.

It may be that there were people like that that got out. I would check on linkedin. Look for other developers from your country - just start sending out connection requests. The worst they can say is no. You might hook up with some local developers. And you may find some that succeeded and got out and you can ask for guidance.

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7

this is exactly I am doing,
they all are saying, obey like a donkey untill you get a skill enough that they do value you
as you are worthy enough,
they say to handle the Senior you should be a senior,

8

Yeah, unfortunately, in some cultures, that may be normal. Go ahead, kiss his butt. Learn every thing you can. Study on the side. It will take a few years but you will get there. Keep learning new things and building more and more complex apps.

In music, we talk about “paying your dues” - going through the hard struggles you need to do to earn your place, learning as you go.

I know it sucks. I wish there were a magic solution to get to where you need to go, but there isn’t one. You have to work and toil and suffer for a few years. It’s not fair but it is what it is. You need to invest a few years so you can enjoy the rest of your life.

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9

I am not the donkey on, I am going to find out the way to handle the situation, its just a phase of time these things are heavy on me, the moment it will be just a regular pblm , there will be the energy and push I will require to break it,
and I am not worried he is not giving me opportunities to perform, I am worried that I am unable to find the like minded persons what I want to be, I want to wake nights to perform and have that level as soon as possible, not to beat him, but to achieve and push my limits to be confident on that I am no kid they are treating me like, I am no the newbie they are assuming me.

in the last the freelance option is available that I am going to try and work on soon from next one,

11

The thing is, due to covid I could not land a job in this Tech chity and lived 1 year at home with very less resources,
due to the financial situiation, I could not stay in the industry next one year as salaries were low and expenses were high
now in this third year I have the balance and now I want to cover that gap that I have lost,

but the Lead is not guiding or letting me go out of the box or even try to do some side stuff,
but I can not stay low and sit in my comfort zone , I have many reasons to struggle hard and get enough paid as much to support my family , and also I am covering the expenses of my younger brother’s university’s fee,
so I want to push my self in a right side in my part time as well as in my weekend on freelance projects or with any friend to make a team or even on open source ,
But i am lacking the guide, the push as well as the encouraging element that the thing I have chosen will pay me back with the experience I could not have, the salary I need ,and the confidence that I am lacking by feeling cornered and made to feel that I am not worthy enough to participate in the problem solving discussion on project and many other things happening with me.

12

You make it sound like you’re really stuck in your current situation. There is apparently no fast or easy way out of this, so all you can do is to keep trying and be patient. Unfortunately, I don’t think people here can give you any more advice than they already did. But try to remember that your worth is not determined by what your employers and co-workers think of you. Keep giving your best and eventually they (or someone else) will see your potential.

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13

Exactly I believe in it and I am working on it.

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